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Hollyhocks

The starthistle bloom is pretty much over here, it's the last major bloom of the summer. I've got some Hollyhocks here and there in the garden and borders of the back yard and the bees are now working them over pretty good. They seem to be a decent flower to have around for the end of summer.

Hollyhocks

I have located some large plants that are pink singles.
What is interesting is that the plants do not show the lesions of rust fungus.
I will collect the seeds as the plants are isolated.
Regards,
Ernie

Hollyhocks

There's a wildflower in this area that is good for late summer bee forage- frostweed. It survives the heat and drought fairly well, and blooms in late August which is our killer season in this area. The butterflies love it too. I don't know if it grows in your area, but I can send you some seeds if you are interested.

The only references I've found to poisonous pollen from hollyhocks is from herbicides and insecticides sprayed on or near the plant, the residues from the spray gets absorbed and stored in the pollen of the plants. I don't use any sprays here. There has always been hollyhocks around my neighbors yard and this year in my yard, the bees have never seemingly had a problem from them. From the searchins I've just done on the internet I've found that the flowers are edible and bees make a fine honey from them

My hollyhocks get rust too and in wet years the leaves also get covered in white mould. The bumble bees love them more than the honey bees. The latter prefer the herbs. I leave the hollyhocks to flower, even when they are ugly, because bumble bees species are endangered.

Re: Hollyhocks

A few years ago I planted some hollyhocks. They too were hit by rust. I didn't treat them at all so the most susceptible died out. The few left are mostly white, one hot pink. The white ones seem to be hardier and I don't have problems with rust anymore. My most vigorous one is still blooming. The bumblebees love them but this year I also found out the Japanese Beetles love them too. I have a book that says honeybees like them too, but I haven't seen them on them yet.